Mini Ninh Thuan Reunion

What an amazing time we had with our friends this past week. We met the Carlson's on our adoption journey nearly two years ago and bonded with them during our 3 week stay in Vietnam. Though they live in Texas, we've been able to keep in touch through e-mail, text messaging, and cell phones. They came to Georgia and stayed with us for a week in June. We were excited to have them again this December. Don and Kim-Lan are like family; their three kids (Jospeh - 10, Samuel - 8, and Maile - 4) fit right in at our home and offer Rocco some much needed playmates. My nephew, Drew, even joined us for two days. He is nine and really enjoys playing with the Carlson kids.

I'm very thankful that God brought this family into our lives and that we are able to allow our kids to have a piece of their early days in Vietnam through their continued friendship with each other. We are forever bonded with them through our adoptions. We experienced the "birth" of Rocco and Maile at the Ninh Thuan orphanage on the same day. . . March 13, 2007. Our lives are forever changed.

Below are some pictures of our fabulous five days together.

Maile pushes Rocco on the tractor. . .

Rocco returns the favor. . .

These two are so sweet together. . .

And also sweet on each other. . .

They really enjoyed the playground. . .

and the park. . .

just watching the ducks. . . .

Jo, Sam, and Drew. . .

Proud Ninh Thuan mamas and their babies. . .

You can't come to GA and visit without going to the farm. Jason, Rocco, and Maile in the John Deere. . .

The boys picked turnips. We later cooked them for supper. We may have introduced them to turnips & fried bologna, but Kim-Lan showed us Couscous (rice/grits dish). Oh yeah. . . I also showed her kids what the best dessert in the world is . . . cinnamon teddy grahams with peanut butter.

The kids also had their first silly string war. . .

at the house they enjoyed constructing and running this large K-NEX roller coaster. . .

Kangaroo Jakes was a great place to let out a lot of energy. With tunnels, bouncing inflatables, and slides, this may have been the kids' favorite.

It gave the adults a good reason to be a kid again. . .

Yes, it may be 7 gradish to dress like each other, but for two friends that only get to see each other twice a year, what does it matter? We just want to have fun. . .

To see our trip through Kim-Lan's eyes click HERE.

33 Months Old

What a loving boy we are blessed with. He continues to gently kiss my cheek and love on me all throughout the day. This month, Rocco and I were gone to see my parents. When we returned, Jason asked him if he missed daddy. His reply was, "Rocco love daddy." We celebrated this simple sentence. It was his first time saying that. At night he has been sleeping between us again. It is very sweet to see our little man lie on Jason and stretch his body all over his daddy and lay his head on his neck.

He loves his mama, too. Often he'll get Jason's attention and then kiss on me. "What are you doing?" Jason jokes with him. Rocco will shake his head no and say, "Daddy love." In other words, this is Mama's love.

For the last month he has started drinking out of a cup without a lid. He's so proud of himself and exclaims after every sip, "No peel!" (no spills)

When he is thirsty, he'll cup his hand around his mouth and make a slurping sound.

He still takes a nap in the middle of the day. It usually lasts around 3 hours. To go to sleep he drinks a bottle of milk, both for his nap and at night. At night he's started taking 2 bottles. I bet this has caused some of his growth spurt in height.

Potty training is not going so well. If ever it is quite at our house, Rocco is usually hiding doing his business behind a chair. Once he's finished he'll sometimes tell us "Poo poo." At other times we'll smell him and he'll deny it and insist, "No!" I guess this is his first lie. He tee tees a lot in the morning after waking up, but that's about it.

Before bedtime he always wants to be read to. "Mama read!" and "More read!" he begs. I still give him his bath at night, so Jason does most of the story time and getting him to sleep. One of the regular books that they read is Going to Sleep On the Farm. It is a precious book about a little boy asking his daddy how the animals go to sleep on the farm. At the end of the book there is a page with no words. Just a picture of the farm at night. They have a routine they go through pointing out all the animals, hay, tractors, moon, etc. Lately Rocco enjoys kidding us. Jason will tell him that it is a tractor in the barn. "No truck!" Rocco jokes.

Rocco loves to make a grumpy face with his lips pooched out. We always ask him, "Who's grumpy?" He nearly always says that Mawmaw and Papa are grumpy. That's not very likely since they're both in heaven, but this is just one of Rocco's usual jokes. Finally, he'll say, "No, Rocco." His grumpy face is definitely one of his favorite tricks.

His sentence structure has really come along. I'm so thankful and proud of his progress. When we play hide and seek his conversation goes something like this, "Mama Rocco sit down. Oooh, dark. Mama Rocco hide. Shhh. Boo!"

He's still very much a train man. Just recently he actually called them trains. Usually he just calls them woo's.

He's learned a good bit about God and the Bible. He recognizes God's Word and says, "Bible." He knows the book is about God and that Jesus loves him. He also knows that Jesus' mother is Mary and that baby Jesus was in the hay.

Mama and Her Train Man

Rocco's toy craze right now is with trains, particularly Thomas and Friends. Whenever we asked him what Santa was going to bring him his response was always, "More Whoos!" In other words, more trains. Well, Santa delivered as well as Mimi/Papaw, Nana/Papaw, Nana/Granddaddy, Uncle Ben/Aunt Tonya and kids, and mom/dad. If any of our friends want to come over for a playdate, we have trains for everyone! DVDs, books, Bingo, nightlight, backpack, wooden trains, die cast Take-a-long trains, and Trackmaster. . . everything Thomas we have it! And it's so much fun to see the delight and surprise in Rocco's eyes everytime he plays with them. Here's a picture that was taken at my parents' house the day after Christmas. Rocco is sporting his conductor overhauls, scarf, and hat. I'm snazzy red hot with my new hair cut/color. Yes, I'm once again red!

Christmas Puppy

What a surprise for our little boy! After school on Friday, I picked up a 4 week old Cocker Spaniel puppy from a teacher friend I work with. When I brought her home, I prepared her for the surprise. I barely had finished her bath and drying her off when Rocco and Jason came home. I quickly put her in a big box with newspaper shavings inside. Then. . . Rocco opened it up to find a brand new puppy! He was fine for a little while, at least until she became a little fiesty and wanted to play around and jump on him. Rocco wanted me to hold him then. It's amazing that he is not scared of big animals like bulls, cows, or horses, yet he'll run from little animals like ducks, bugs, and puppies. Once he saw that I had a box for her, he kept saying, "Puppy box! Box!" But who could keep such a cute face pinned up for long?
Rocco was very sweet and gentle with her. He really liked petting her soft fur. I asked him what we should name her. His reply? "Puppy!" And that's what her name is. Guess we'll be calling her that even when she's grown up.

Adoption Poem

I dedicate this poem to my two friends. First to Heather. Her baby girl's "Gotcha Day" was today in China. Sweet Lillian will be coming home on Christmas day. Second to Sarah Lee. After years of infertility, God has led her and her husband to adopt. What a beautiful picture adoption is to those around us of the love that Christ has first bestowed upon us. There's something so special about adoption that just can't be put into words. May God bless both of you as you experience the beautiful road of motherhood.

Every call has a beginning. A quiet moment when God whispers a promise to a mother’s heart A holy place where a father bows and faithfully accepts the journey set before him. A miraculous morning that unexpectedly dawns…Casting its first light on a chosen threshold. A gentle knock..a closed door opens. A sacred invitation sent by the Father..Leads to the other side of the world. Where lonely hearts stare out orphanage windows Praying for someone to care.. And then one morning, On an ordinary day An orphan’s life changes... God sends them a second chance...Through you.--author unknown

The Big One

What a deer! Can you believe our 2 year old Rocco killed this one? He's quite the young hunter.

Well, not actually. Rocco's daddy gets the credit for this one. Jason finally achieved his goal at the farm. After countless hours of hunting in the woods and waiting on the big one, he pulled back his bow and took this one out. It is an eight pointer with a 15 inch spread. He plans on mounting it and processing the meat for us to eat.

Christmas Chef

I love having a special helper at Christmas time. There's so much baking to be done. Could I find any cuter help?

Christmas Past and Present

December 2007

December 2008

Christmas Helper

Rocco became interested in helping me wrap presents when he saw the Thomas the Train paper. He insisted that he write his name on his own present.

On a completely different note, Rocco wears pull-ups at night. They have the cartoon character, Diego, on them. He thinks that it is him on the diaper. He's very proud of them and wants to put them on right after his bath. Jason told him that he can't tee tee or poo poo in those diapers because they're big boy underwear. When he wears them he says, "Rocco biaper," shakes his head no and says, "Tee tee, poo poo."

So, what do you think? Do you see any resemblance?

Christmas Parade

I've lived in this town since 1995 and I've never been to the big parade in the big city. Sure I've been to our hometown parades. Even been in them several times with our church floats. But tonight, for the first time ever, I finally ventured out to the big town and saw the Christmas parade. Rocco and Drew also saw it for the first time as well. Nana was there with us to enjoy the music, floats, big trucks, tractors, and Santa. Yes, we stood out in the cold watching that parade for over an hour waiting on Red. Rocco really enjoyed it. He would only let me hold him, so I was pretty worn out after it was all over. For the last 15 minutes or so we finally just sat down on the cold road and watched it. We were bundled up, or "bumbied up" as Rocco would say.

This isn't the best picture, but it was the only one I got with my camera. The battery went dead. I still like it though because it shows Drew and Rocco all bundled up.

Afterwards we went a few blocks away to a teacher friend's house for some cookies and hot chocolate. Several of my students and co-workers were there. The night was really fun. During the parade I loved hearing Rocco's little voice as new sights would approach us. "Lellow bus. Big truck." Every now and then he would just turn to kiss me.

I admit I acted like a complete goofball at one time. My old band director was leading the marching band in the parade. My high school is an hour and a half away from this town, so it was neat to see him directing at a school in my neck of the woods. I tried to follow him for a while, and I kept yelling, "Mr. Self! Mr. Self!" He never looked at me, but several other people did. Probably because I was tripping over several of them trying to get to him. It brought back some old high school memories of cold, Christmas parades in December. And, for whoever reads this blog, you now know that I was once a band nerd.

I'll close tonight with two pictures. One was taken in Dec 2007 and other was taken just last night.